Since the opening of Williams-Sonoma's first store, wedding registries have been an important part of its business. In the early days, the registry was just a book that sat on the checkout counter. But in 1991 the bridal registries in every store across the country were linked by computer. This enabled friends and families to easily purchase gifts from any store nationwide. Williams-Sonoma became one of the first specialty retailers to take this step.
"The Williams-Sonoma computerized bridal registry proved to be so successful that a few years later we launched a similar one for Pottery Barn. Since 1995, the Pottery Barn bridal registry has continued to grow as quickly as its predecessor." — Howard Lester
